Franchise Opportunities in Albuquerque, NM

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Many are starting to get ready for the possibility of a dry Rio Grande in Albuquerque and nearby areas like Socorro for the first time since the 1980s. Right now the river is full and is facing its peak flow due to early runoff from the mountains.

“When all you have is a farm, you know, it’s going to be difficult for a lot of people,” said Chris Lopez, a farmer in Socorro, N.M.

The river has long been a source of water for farmers along its banks but officials say that it will make it harder for them. “I wish I had better news for the middle valley. But what that means for irrigators, along with anybody that enjoys the river, is if we don’t get rain, this summer is going to be an extremely difficult summer, where we likely see large sections of the river drying,” said Jason Casuga, chief engineer for the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District.

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The early runoff has a lot contributing to it including a dry winter, hotter temperatures, the current drought, and intense winds that blow dust on the snowpack making it melt and flow faster.

Last year many were lucky. “You know, we were kind of in the same situation last year. And then we got the early monsoons,” said Lopez.

Now some farmers will be okay because they have been preparing, while others won’t be so lucky. “I actually have a retirement that’s, you know, that I could fall back on but most farmers don’t have that,” said Lopez.

Officials say this could carry on for the few years. “If moisture doesn’t turn around, without our dams functioning, or El Vado dam to be able to store water right now. And the state of our compact, that Texas, it’s going to be a tough two or three years,” said Casuga.

The state engineer’s office says 70 percent of the Rio Grande’s water is used right here in the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District. 60 percent of that Rio Grande water is used for irrigation.

NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – As people and livestock continue to be kept away from their homes and resources burn from the Hermit’s Peak-Calf Canyon fire. Now, others are stepping in to ease the impact on New Mexico livestock.

As devastation continues in northern New Mexico, a big part of livelihood in the state is in danger. Jeff Witte and the entire New Mexico Department of Agriculture are focused on farmers across the state. Some of which are seeing their hard-earned properties turned to ash.

“It’s been challenging, we’ve got a number of fires across the state and on the agriculture side we’ve been working hard to make sure our ranchers and farmers are prepared,” said Witte. “You can never prepare to lose your entire forage crop.”

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There are programs to help after the fire but in the meantime fellow New Mexicans are stepping up. “Ranchers from other areas have offered up their land we’ve got shelters a number of shelters up across the burned areas,” said Witte.

Over the years they’ve been able to perfect their emergency response plans. “You know they were ready when the first flame started we started the process of identifying shelters, appropriate shelters,” said Witte.

There are still concerns over scammers. There have been reports of scammers going to areas being evacuated and telling people there they have land for the animals to go but when the owners show up, their livestock is nowhere to be found. “They have a dedicated team that are looking at all of those cases and as soon as they see one the investigators are looking into those issues,” said Witte.

Another concern is making sure all the displaced livestock has enough feed. “This is not the season, we don’t have hay being cut it’s just starting to be harvested right now,” said Witte.

That means everything being donated by farmers is from their own personal “rainy day” savings. During a time when they are already struggling with drought conditions. “Hay that they had in storage, hay that other farmers and ranchers need for themselves,” said Witte.

Making it work so everyone can make it through to another season. “You know farmers and ranchers are resilient,” said Witte.

To learn how to help and donate to the cause, go to the NM Agriculture website.

With its black painted walls and “blood” splattered tables, one of Albuquerque’s latest restaurants is intended to be both an homage to ’80s horror movies and its namesake item — blood sausages.

Blood Sausage, located at 138 Harvard SE, opened March 16.

Co-owner Cameron Markham said the idea for the restaurant came from a childhood love of ’80s horror movies and a desire to open a haunted house themed restaurant with “elevated offerings.”

By late last year, he and his partner, Elizabeth Blankstein, had landed on an idea that would later become Blood Sausage.

“Originally we had thought maybe we just open a horror bar,” he said.

However, they decided on also offering food, and blood sausage seemed like an obvious choice for a restaurant themed around slasher films.

Markham said his interest in blood sausages stems from he and Blankstein’s proclivity to test out more adventurous items on menus while dining out and Blankstein’s Tawainese origin since a version of blood sausage is often found in Taiwan.

“My partner and I are both really, really big into very adventurous culinary things, so anytime we go out whatever is the most, like, out there thing in the world to try, that’s usually what ends up being our favorite thing,” he said.

The menu serves three different types of blood sausages made in-house and inspired by German, United Kingdom and Taiwanese recipes.

For slightly less adventurous diners, the restaurant also offers a chicken sandwich, a pork burger, chilled noodles, grilled cheese and several types of fries.

In addition to food, the restaurant also serves beer and an “exceptionally nerdy” wine list, Markham said.

This is not Markham’s first restaurant endeavor.

Santa Fe diners may recognize Markham and Blankstein as the duo behind the Asian fusion restaurant Liu Liu Liu.

Blood Sausage is open from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

For more information, visit bloodsausagerestaurant.com or call 505-265-9452.

Albuquerque Journal and its reporters are committed to telling the stories of our community. • Do you have a question you want someone to try to answer for you? Do you have a bright spot you want to share? We want to hear from you. Please email [email protected]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – If you’ve been in New Mexico during wildfire season, you know the all-too-familiar smell of smoke in the air and the sound of fire trucks racing to the scene of another New Mexico wildfire. You probably remember fires in the Jemez mountains, blazes near Ruidoso, or flames in the Albuquerque foothills in years past. But have you ever wondered what communities are at the greatest risk for fire damage?

Wildfire researchers sure have. In fact, it’s a question the U.S. Forest Service has been researching for years now.

In 2018, the U.S. Congress asked the Forest Service to create a map of the U.S. showing which communities were the most at-risk for wildfires. The latest numbers come from 2020. They combine data from several sources, such as population data from the U.S. Census Bureau, with computer simulations of wildfires. Here’s what the latest maps reveal about the potential for destructive fires in New Mexico.

Statewide Risks

Across New Mexico, on average, homes are at a greater risk of wildfire damage than in 78% of other states, the data shows. That means that for homes in populated parts of New Mexico, there is not only a relatively high likelihood of wildfires reaching homes, but that those fires are also likely to be relatively intense.

Greg Dillon, the director of the Fire Modeling Institute at the Missoula Fire Sciences Lab used the data to create risk maps. “Essentially, it’s showing us a map of where are our fire-prone landscapes in the United States and where are the ecosystems that can burn,” he says.

New Mexico’s homes are, on average, at greater risk than homes in Colorado. But at a lower risk than homes in Arizona, the data shows. Within New Mexico, of course, some communities are at greater risk than others.

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Western states tend to have relatively higher areas of wildfire risk to homes. Image: U.S. Forest Service.

Major forest areas mean major risk

“We tend to think of forests when we think of wildfires, but it’s not just forests,” Dillon says. “It’s also shrublands in California. That might be chaparral shrublands in the Southwest. In the Great Basin, it might be different kinds of sagebrush. Even certain desert scrub landscapes are seeing more fire because we have invasive grasses in some of those Southwestern ecosystems.”

New Mexico has several wildfire-prone ecosystems. Of course, forest timber can burn, especially if dry (think firewood). But grass is also a potential fuel. And some parts of the state have chaparral shrublands, which are often made of rocky terrain dotted with shrubs. Those too are potential fuel sources. In 2017, the Tiffany fire scorched over 9,000 acres of chaparral shrubland near Socorro, according to records from the Southwest Coordination Center.

Among all the ecosystems in New Mexico, the major forests generally create greater wildfire risks than the desert basins. After all, forests can be packed with fuel high and low, including both living and dead vegetation.

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This means the Gila National Forest in southwest New Mexico, the Lincoln National Forest in the southern portion of the state, and the Santa Fe National Forest in northern New Mexico are particularly likely to experience wildfire, the U.S. Forest Service data shows. The probability that a wildfire will burn through an area generally increases near the centers of those forests. But the edges of forested areas are still at high-risk.

Those edges of forests might make for beautiful views for homeowners. But unfortunately, areas, where developments expand into forested areas, are at an elevated risk for wildfire, the data shows.

For example, many homes in Ruidoso, New Mexico, are at higher risk because of their location. When you overlay a map of wildfire risk — including the likelihood of fire, potential intensity of fire, and potential exposure to fire — with the recent McBride fire, it’s clear that the damage could have been much worse, given the risks.

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Much of the Ruidoso community is at relatively high risk for wildfire impacts. Here, yellow indicates areas impacted by the 2022 McBride fire and red indicates areas of housing units at risk. Data: U.S. Forest Service and Southwest Area Incident Management Team; satellite imagery from Google Earth.

Ruidoso ranks relatively high in terms of wildfire risk to homes compared to other New Mexico communities. In fact, U.S. Forest Service data ranks Ruidoso’s populated areas as having a greater risk than 95% of all New Mexico communities. And at-risk homes in Ruidoso tend to be directly exposed to wildfire due to surrounding vegetation, the data shows.

At an even greater risk are communities such as Aragon, New Mexico. This sparsely populated area on the north end of the Gila Mountains has a greater wildfire risk than 98% of all New Mexico communities. In fact, the largest wildfire in New Mexico history occurred about 40 miles south of Aragon, back in 2012.

Population and risk

A relatively small amount of the state’s population lives in the highest-risk areas. But even urban areas like Albuquerque are potentially exposed to wildfires.

Albuquerque’s North Bosque is particularly at risk for impacts from wildfire, the data shows. The South Valley and far Northeast Heights are also high-risk areas.

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Around Albuquerque, wildfire risk to housing units is greatest in the North Bosque, Northeast Foothills, and South Valley. Pink indicates elevated risk. Data: U.S. Forest Service. Underlying imagery created by MRCOG and Bohannan Huston, Inc. via UNMRGIS.

The bosque, of course, is no stranger to fire. In fact, 2022 has already brought several fires to the bosque in and around Albuquerque. KRQE News 13 previously reported details of an April 18 fire near homes along Riverview Drive. And on April 20, there Simona Fire in Jarales sparked in the Valencia County bosque.

Building resiliency to reduce risk

The U.S. Forest Service didn’t just collect wildfire risk data for the fun of it. The data is intended to help communities better prepare and mitigate wildfire risks, Dillon says.

And there are specific things homeowners in at-risk areas can do. Here are some tips from Dillon and the U.S. Forest Service (more info can be found here).

*Editor’s Note: Full citation to the wildfire risk data as follows:

Scott, Joe H.; Brough, April M.; Gilbertson-Day, Julie W.; Dillon, Gregory K.; Moran,Christopher. Wildfire Risk to Communities: Spatial datasets of wildfire risk for populatedareas in the United States. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive.https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2020-0060

It comes as a shock to no one that abortion rights are under attack in America. In 1973, the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling, Roe v. Wade, guaranteed the right to an abortion until 26 weeks of gestation. In June the Supreme Court is poised to rule on a Mississippi law that will ban most abortions after 15 weeks of gestation. Given Justice Samuel Alito’s draft decision, most experts believe the court will uphold the Mississippi law, overturning Roe.

As of April 4, 23 states have laws that would restrict abortion if it was not constitutionally protected. Of those 23 states, 13 have laws that will ban most abortion if Roe is overturned.

What does this mean for New Mexicans? In 1969 New Mexico passed a statute that banned all abortion, with very limited exceptions. However, thanks to Roe this statute became unenforceable.

On Feb. 26, 2021, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed Senate Bill 10, The Respect New Mexico Women and Families Act, into law – after a voter education push led by the ACLU.

This bill repealed New Mexico’s outdated abortion ban, reflecting New Mexico’s belief that legislators have no right to dictate our reproductive health.

The Respect New Mexico Women and Families Act is a reminder of why pro-choice efforts need to be led by activists and advocates. We know one thing is true: reproductive health care affects everyone within a community and protects the reproductive rights, benefits and many other social justice movements for all. SB 10 saw widespread support from a huge range of communities, varying from Indigenous, Black, Latinx, Asian, legal experts, LGBTQ+ and many more. We owe this victory to the diverse New Mexican population that continues to unite in the fight for human rights.

However, this is not enough to guarantee future abortion access for New Mexicans. There are currently 536 proposed laws aiming to restrict abortion across 42 states. We have seen many times that abortion rights can be obliterated in just one state legislative session. Thus, it is never safe to assume abortion rights are permanent.

New Mexico needs to follow the lead of the four states and the District of Columbia that have codified the right to abortion as law. Doing this will protect future abortion access in a post-Roe America and ensure reproductive rights cannot be ousted in a single state legislative session.

Given the attacks on abortion access in Arizona and the radical Texas abortion ban, it is critical New Mexico remains a haven for reproductive health care.

With the likely demise of Roe looming, it is important to understand how many Americans will lose access to safe, legal abortion. Criminalizing abortion does not end abortion, it only ends safe abortion. New Mexicans owe it to themselves and our neighboring states to relentlessly protect safe and legal abortion.

Albuquerque Journal and its reporters are committed to telling the stories of our community. • Do you have a question you want someone to try to answer for you? Do you have a bright spot you want to share? We want to hear from you. Please email [email protected]